Commemorating Easter

As I did last year, I am going to be commemorating the last week of the Savior’s life here on Good News! After all, that is the Good News! So as we approach Easter week, I’ll repeat some of what I said last year and I’ll add some things to it. But I’m going to start with the same thing and that is to ask you to forget all you know about the last week of the Savior’s life. I know that sounds strange, but I have my reasons and three of them are:

(1) Since we were small children we have been learning about Jesus Christ so that what we now believe about Him is a composite of years and years of accumulated knowledge; some of that knowledge is accurate and some not. But the inaccurate is not necessarily the problem. Often the accurate is the problem because we have heard it so much and so often we don’t REALLY hear it any more. The words pass through our minds but we don’t think about what they mean let alone feel them deep in our hearts. So pretend you know nothing and let the wonder of it all amaze you.

(2) When you read or listen with an empty mind you hear old things in new ways. You will understand differently. Insights will come to fill the places you have emptied in your head.

(3) When you listen with an empty mind you are more open to learning with not just your mind but also your heart. Too often our mind actually gets in the way of learning because it starts shouting “But” or “If only” or “That can’t be” and the shouting that goes on keeps us from hearing the whisperings of the heart. Paul teaches, “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).

Easter is the season of newness and the greatest gift you can give to yourself this season is to partake of the newness. So empty your mind and begin this adventure by simply savoring the thought that Jesus Christ makes all things new—even you.